1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a stretch blow molded bottle having a handle provided on its neck portion.
2. Background Art
It is known to injection mold a preform having a handle which is integrally formed and extended longitudinally and downwardly from a side surface positioned below a threaded portion of a neck of said preform and stretch blow mold said preform into a bottle which has a thin body wall from a distal end of the neck to a bottom so as to obtain a bottle integrally having a handle.
Such a bottle having a handle is disclosed in, for example, GB-A-2041286, EP-A-0061511, U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,598, JP-A-3-268907, EP-A-0479139 etc.
Also in JP-A-56-30828, there is disclosed a bottle formed by stretch blow molding in which a ring shaped handle is integrally formed on a neck in a longitudinal direction.
This conventional handle has a certain thickness so as to acquire a strength. If a resin used as a material for molding a bottle is polyethylene terephthalate, although it has a certain hardness as no further process is provided after the injection molding, it lacks an impact strength. As a result, damage of the handle can occur when the bottle filled with contents accidentally falls down on the ground from a shelf or the like. On the other hand, if the resin used is polypropylene, the handle will not be damaged when falling down the bottle because of its flexibility. However, the hardness of an integral handle is not sufficient and therefore a separately formed handle which is made of polyethylene is mounted afterward.
Another stretch blow molded bottle in which a ring shaped handle, besides the above mentioned handle, is integrally formed in a horizontal direction is disclosed in WO82/02369. However, this ring shaped handle has the same thickness as the ring formed on the neck of the bottle. Thus, if the resin is polyethylene terephthalate as typically used for this type of bottle, the handle lacks flexibility and it is difficult to carry the bottle when it is filled. In addition, there is a possibility of easily breaking of the handle when it is bent.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a newly structured bottle having a handle formed by stretch blow molding, wherein a bendable handle having a flat shape and extending in a transverse direction is integrally formed on a lower side of the neck of the bottle to facilitate carrying even a relatively large bottle.